Broken Turbo
 

Folks,

My car died last week on the Teconic Parkway in NY. The main symptom was huge gobbs of black smoke and NO power. Coudn't even climb a hill faster than 10mph. I drove it about 20 miles in that condition before it actually stopped running when I left the parkway.

I got it towed to Joe's garage and he changed the fuel filters and checked for bad fuel. (problem seemed to start shortly after refueling). He then removed the down pipe from the turbo and confirmed that the turbo is siezed. The engine now starts and idles perfectly, but still smokes and has no power.

Now, my mechanic Nick is of the opinion that the siezed turbo is a secondary problem and that the original source of the smoke and stalling needs to be uncovered and corrected before fixing the turbo. He claims that even with a siezed turbo the engine should perform as a normally aspirated engine with less power, but not all that smoke. This seems to jive with broken turbo threads I've read here.

On the other hand Joe thinks the broken turbo is the whole problem. His experience with his turbo deisel truck was the same as mine when his turbo broke. It ran so poorly he had to get it towed.

So what do you guys think? Can a broken turbo disable a 603 engine and render it useless or is there something else wrong?

Thanks,

The bearing seals are probably shot as well so it's dumping oil in the intake.

just curious, is see youre at almost 300K, but has the trap oxidizer already been removed?

Exactly, the bearings are just spewing oil into the intake at an alarming rate, (watch your oil level) and causing the engine to burn this oil, which makes loads of smoke and kills power. This exact thing is what is happening with my car right now.

A siezed turbo is NOT going to run like a Normaly aspirated engine as the non moving turbo will pose a substatial restriction to both the intake and exhaust.

That needs to be swapped before anyone makes any further brilliant comments to what is wrong with it.

Johnhef - Yes, the first week I owned the car.

rg2098 and Sady - That makes the most sense. I remember checking the oil and not being able to notice the consumption, but I only drove a short distance.

Ok, so my idea about trying to get it to run well enough to drive home is out of the question.

So, should I let Joe take a wack at replacing the turbo or pay him to tow it forty miles to the dealer?

Thanks,

Just curious if anyone has purchased a rebuilt turbo from Phil here at shop forum?

Thanks,

If the turbo is really siezed, can you block off the oil flow to it? I would think that a homemade blocking plate cut from a beer can would do it if the connection is a 2 bolt, flat block affair like on my 82.

Did you ever wonder why your turbo seized? How do you treat your car? Do you let it warm up before driving, and let it idle down before shutting off?(doing so allows turbo to unspool, and saves alot of ware and tear) Just a thought....my 85 300D has always been warmed up to operating temperature and let idle down, and doesn't usually get shut off if i'm going to be somewhere for over a few hours. I found that this saves ware on the entire car, for christ sake, It's a diesel, you don't have to shut it off!

I would look for a used or rebuilt turbo and stick it on there (Ebay, salvage yard, turbo rebuilder). Shouldn't be too difficult to do. Make sure it gets oil flow and if the car runs ok after that then you know the turbo just died. I wouldn't be too surprised if it's just the turbo giving up if it has 300,000 miles on it.

As a used car owner I wasn't responsible and don't know the oil change experience the car had for the first 210kmi of it's life. Bust since then it's had regular 3kmi changes with diesel rated dino oil.

Couriously, in Dec I switched to Mobile One synthetic for the first time to try it out for the winter. I'm sure it's just a coinicidental. I've been suffering slowly over the last 18 months from low power that my indy claims was due to a worn out turbo. I think it just finally bit the dust.

Does anyone know the motor manual time for a turbo replacement?

Joe wants $50/hr and the dealer gets $95.

Thanks,

I dont know specifically, but I cant see it being more than a couple of hours, at least, I can do it in that time... :confused:

I use rotela -T

more sadness
 

We'll the new turbo worked very well...

But something has gone wrong since (4000mi and one oil change later) and I'm stumbling at idle on one or two cylinders. I get gobs of light blue smoke when I start up the morning after a long drive. Some smoke even seems to escape at the back of engine. On the road the stumble goes away and the car performs well on the highway. There is no sign of smoke after the car warms up other than the expected wisp of black smoke at full throtle full load. When I return to idle it returns to stumbling. It makes no difference how warmed up it gets. Oil consumption seemed about the same as before - about a quart a change.

Any ideas?

Thanks,

light blue smoke huh, does it smell like burning oil?
Could be the turbo again, where was it rebuilt? Or valve seals. Or possibly the vacuum pump? is it a later version vac pump (sure hope so!)
Sorry to hear its acting up again. I love my '87 300D and so far I have been lucky since I bought it about 18 months ago. I did have a valve job done, and new lifters and new water pump and hoses and seals and stuff.
Waiting to hear what is your problem. Hopefully nothing serious!